Another Preempt #12-22

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

Bidding would be a lot easier if those nasty opponents never intervened. But, in real life they can make things difficult for you. In this hand, West stuck in a preemptive bid.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#12-22
Dlr	E
Vul	none

	85
	K53
	K6
	AKJ976

	KQJ9764
	104
	1085
	2

/images/pad.bmp

	3
	J962
	AQJ732
	83

	A102
	AQ87
	94
	Q1054

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1
3	5	Pass	Pass
Pass

BIDDING: North wasn’t certain how to continue over West’s preempt but finally bid what he hoped would make.

Play: West led the king of spades to declarer’s ace. Since it was very likely that East held the ace of diamonds, declarer could not allow West to obtain the lead and make the fatal switch. Declarer saw some hope in the heart suit. He drew two rounds of trumps followed by the top three hearts. When West discarded a spade on the third heart, the bidding and play suggested that East started with 1-4-6-2 distribution. Declarer now led the last heart and discarded dummy’s spade. East won but had to concede a diamond to dummy’s king. An opening diamond lead would have doomed the contract.

Surprisingly, in a local game not one N/S pair reached the superior contract of 3NT. There are ten easy tricks when played from the North hand. This proves once again that preempts work.